A week had passed since the attempt on her life and Aemond's return from Storm's End. Rhea could now walk without feeling excruciating pain. Guards were still posted by her door at all times and Aemond almost never left her alone for more than half an hour now, making time to ensure she walked around the gardens at least once a day, bringing her to see the maesters. He swore that, next time he would leave, she would accompany him, whether his brother wished her to or not.
When she was alone, Rhea received visits from their family and her handmaiden Marian, and she knew Aemond missionned them to visit her when he was not there, so she would never be out of trusted people's sight. Refusing to let herself fall victim to anything, and anyone, Rhea had made it a point to let the Hand know she was recovering very well, as the wounds had not been deep enough to cause her any real damage and she planned to tell the Hand she wished to see him, once she was strong enough. She was adamant on not letting him, of all people, perceive her as scared. If he wanted her dead, she would not go easily.
Her chainmail was still missing, however and nowhere to be found, which she believed it to be no coincidence. The maesters had ordered her to take things easy. She was recovering quite well, yes, but she was to be careful if she did not want the stitches in her body to reopen.
This particular day, Aemond had, as most days this week, to meet with the Green Council for a reason she did not know and her husband would not tell her, claiming it was to be kept secret for now. As she took her daily walk in the gardens with Helaena, along with her children, Rhea could hear the prince's voice raising through the rows of trees, and she frowned as she heard him demand she be kept from whatever he was talking about.
"What is this about, Helaena?" Rhea asked, concerned.
Helaena turned away slightly, staying silent for a short while as she tried to find something to say. She knew, of course, as did everyone in court, but she swore to her brother she would not mention it to his wife.
"I do not know," Helaena simply stated, hating that she had to lie to her friend about such thing.
Rhea sighed, and both women carried on with their walk.
"Brother, let me tell her," Aemond's voice rose again, and, this time, Rhea hastened her pace to try and find her husband.
"It has been a week, Aemond. Consequences are sure to follow sooner than later, and it is beginning to become harder than ever to keep her from finding out," Aegon's voice soon echoed as loud as his brother's.
Rhea felt her heart pound in her chest as she turned a corner and found herself among the King and the prince, Helaena jogging behind her to catch her before she could see them, her shoulders slumping as she failed. She looked at all their uneasy faces, their bodies tensing up as she urged them to speak.
"What is it?" Rhea spoke. "If there is something I should be made aware of, I would appreciate it. I don't enjoy being kept from important matter, you know."
Helaena stood beside her, exchanging a knowing look with her brother-husband.
"Jaehaerys, Jaehaera, come, let us leave your aunt and uncle alone," Aegon ordered as he took his children by the hand, leading them, and his wife, away.
Aemond slid his hands around Rhea's waist, keeping them there as he led her to a nearby bench so she could sit. She sat, her face contorting in pain as she felt a sting in her lower back. She must have overdone it and her body made her feel it. She placed her own hand on her back to soothe her pain and nodded to her husband.
"Do go on, Aemond." She urged him, her blue eyes scanning his anxious face.
The man planted a long kiss on her forehead and cleared his throat, the same look in his eye as the day he came back from Storm's End, one of anguish and regret, as she would soon understand it.
As her prince kept quiet, Rhea shifted, annoyed at having been kept something from her.
"Aemond, I will let your secrecy slide, I swear, but I will not be kept from anything again," she started, her eyes dark as she tried to refrain from letting anger overcome her. "Whatever it is, we will get through it together." She softened as she spoke the last words, taking the man's hands in hers.
"I hope you will still believe that when I have told you," Aemond squeezed her hands, kissing her intensely.
She looked at his regret stricken face and her heart pounded stronger in her chest.
"Rhea, my love," he began hesitantly. "My nephew, Lucerys, is dead."
Rhea's lips quivered and her eyes filled with tears, she buried her face in her prince's neck, all sorts of questions filling her mind.
"H-how?"
Aemond placed his hands on her arms and made her look him in the eye while he readied himself to tell her the whole of it. He waited a second, enjoying the last time she would look at him with unaltered love in her eyes, knowing this would change everything.
"You were right, Rhaenyra did also send an envoy to Storm's End to discuss with Lord Borros," he started.
She nodded, tears running on her cheeks and dripping along her neck.
"Did he get caught up in the storm like you did? Did him and Arrax get lost at sea?" Rhea asked, her voice breaking.
Aemond shook his head and looked away from her. He had faced the consequences of his actions already with his brother and his mother, he was called all kinds of names, his own intelligence and nature questioned for a whole week, he had endured it, but he wasn't sure he could endure her to think anything bad about him. Still, he had committed a terrible thing and she had to know.
"I wanted to scare the boy, my love, nothing more, I swear," the prince stated as he watched Rhea slowly come to the realisation her prince had something to do with her nephew's death as it turned out.
"No," she pushed him away, her eyes full of tears. "No, Aemond!"
"I said I wished to pluck his eye out and got on Vhagar-"
"The boy was only five and ten," she exclaimed, painfully standing up from the bench so as to not be as close to the prince.
"Arrax breathed fire on Vhagar and that's when I lost control, I kept urging her to stand down but she-"
"How can you expect me to believe you, Aemond? You have resented the poor boy ever since you were children."
"My love, he was my blood, I would never stoop so low."
Rhea scoffed.
"Do not call me that," she spat. "It is a privilege you lost when you murdered your own kin, Aemond."
Rhea turned to walk away but her husband caught her wrist, keeping his fingers wrapped around it lightly. He truly never meant for the boy to die, and it all truly was an accident, but he acknowledged his mistake, knowing full well he had caused an innocent child to die because of his foolish need to have his revenge.
"I deserve all your hatred, Rhea, I do. I am the reason Rhaenyra has declared war on us, I am the reason my family is in danger, I realise it. But you must trust me when I tell you I never meant for Lucerys to die like this," Aemond swore, and for once he told the complete unfiltered truth.
"Hating you would consume much more energy than you would deserve, Aemond," Rhea simply stated, her eyes turned away from him. She wouldn't even look at him any more.
Aemond, angry and wishing to finally come clean of all his wrongs, put his finger on her chin and made her look at him again. Her jaw was clenched and her eyes were dark, starring daggers at him.
"I did not mean for my nephew to die, but I did intend for Tobias Martell to," he confessed.
Rhea moved back, disgust all over he face. She raised her hand and crashed it into her husband's face strongly, a loud clapping noise resonating throughout the gardens. Fearing the reaction of the man she thought she knew, she clasped her hand around the handle of her dagger, tears still running on her cheeks. But Aemond did not move, he did not react, his heart breaking as he realised an immense gap had been dug between the two.
"You-"
Rhea could barely contain her anger now.
"You lied to me?" Her tone was furious. "How could you have lied to me?"
"I had to, to keep you close to me."
She walked away from him, and turned around one last time, throwing her unclasped necklace at his face.
"You are a menace," she spat at him sharply, violently, poiting at his torso with disgust in her voice, then distancing herself away from him as fast as she could.
Her husband, hurt by her words and utterly heartbroken, stayed back, letting her leave, thinking how, now, she would probably fly out of King's Landing and towards Dragonstone to finally side with who she had always felt she was the rightful Queen, Rhaenyra.
And he was right, angrily, she almost jogged towards the dragonpit, ignoring the pain coursing through her body and urging her to stop. As she reached Sapphire, she felt terrible pain in her belly and her hand ran over her black gown, she realised it was wet. She turned her hand and look at her bloody shaking palm, leaning against her dragon as she gasped in pain. As the dragon shrieked, she climbed on it and ordered it to fly away from this wretched place.